Family Experiences Related to Early Hearing Intervention Guidelines in Washington State

Undiagnosed hearing loss can have an especially devastating effect on young children. Without proper assessment, a child may have limited access to language and auditory input, and their speech and language skills may be negatively impacted. Research has shown that early intervention is related to positive developmental outcomes in children with hearing loss. Therefore, it is beneficial for these children and their families to receive support as early as possible. The present study has two main goals. Firstly, this study seeks to examine the implementation of three major national goals of early hearing intervention in Washington State, focusing primarily on the time that passes between each of these three recommended steps for individual families. Secondly, this study is concerned with parent perspectives on potential barriers along the path to intervention that may limit the family\u27s return for services. In an attempt to reveal what obstacles impact a family’s pursuit of early intervention in Washington State, an online survey was developed for parents of children diagnosed with permanent hearing loss in Washington State. Participants will be linked to a secure and anonymous online survey that was developed using a survey building program licensed through Western Washington University. The link will be distributed via email and on the website of Washington State Hands and Voices. The format will consist of approximately 20 questions and is estimated to take 15 minutes to complete. The content is focused on the experience of the parents or guardians of the child with hearing loss during the detection, diagnosis, and intervention periods. The survey will ask about their child’s progression through the intervention process, collecting data on the amount of time it took to progress from one step to the next, as well as data on which factors parents believe to have negatively impacted their experience

Diagnostic Infant ABR Testing Via Telehealth: A Survey of Professional Opinions and Current Barriers

Purpose: To examine the barriers to Washington State audiologists adopting telehealth as a means of improving accessibility to diagnostic audiology for infants. Methods: A Qualtrics survey was distributed via e-mail and social media. Survey participants were required to be audiologists practicing in Washington State. The sixteen-question survey consisted of topics related to participant demographics, previous telehealth experience, and barriers to the use of telehealth for diagnostic infant auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing. A total of 17 participants completed the survey. Results: Survey responses indicated that Washington State audiologists are largely neutral or disagree with telehealth being an effective means of performing remote diagnostic ABRs. Participants primarily identified equipment cost as a barrier, and had varying opinions regarding insurance reimbursement, internet connection, privacy, and ability to counsel. Conclusions: This study identified several barriers to the implementation of remote diagnostic ABR testing in Washington State. The neutral and negative view of telehealth for diagnostic infant ABR points to the need for education among Washington State audiologists. Disseminating information on the efficacy of telehealth to audiologists is a likely next step in reframing the current attitude toward remote diagnostic ABR and working toward reducing loss to follow-up rates for rural families

Consensus practice parameter: audiological assessment and management of unilateral hearing loss in children

Objective: Provide recommendations to audiologists for the management of children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) and for needed research that can lend further insight into important unanswered questions. Design: An international panel of experts on children with UHL was convened following a day and a half of presentations on the same. The evidence reviewed for this parameter was gathered through web-based literature searches specifically designed for academic and health care resources, recent systematic reviews of literature, and new research presented at the conference that underwent peer review for publication by the time of this writing. Study sample: Expert opinions and electronic databases including Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Cochrane Library, Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC), Google Scholar, PsycINFO, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Turning Research into Practice (TRIP) Database. Results: The resulting practice parameter requires a personalised, family-centred process: (1) routine surveillance of speech-language, psychosocial, auditory, and academic or pre-academic development; (2) medical assessments for determination of aetiology of hearing loss; (3) assessment of hearing technologies; and (4) considerations for family-centred counselling. Conclusions: This practice parameter provides guidance to clinical audiologists on individualising the management of children with UHL. In addition, the paper concludes with recommendations for research priorities

Adult Onset Hearing Loss: Current Trends and Emerging Technologies

Western Washington University Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders Douglas Sladen presents “Adult Onset Hearing Loss: Current Trends and Emerging Technologies” as part of the WWU College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Lecture Series. Sladen will review the underlying causes of age-related hearing loss, sharing new findings from the United States and worldwide that demonstrate the devastating effects of hearing loss. He will also share exciting data that are important for managing cases of severe hearing loss. Sladen has worked as a clinician, researcher and professor in audiology for the past 23 years. His research is centered on the speech perception abilities of children and adults with cochlear implants; an auditory prosthetic used to manage severe hearing loss. Specifically, Sladen’s work examines outcomes following cochlear implantation and methods that can be used to improve overall hearing performance

Older And Younger Adult Cochlear Implant Users: Speech Recognition In Quiet And Noise, Quality Of Life, And Music Perception

Purpose: To determine whether older cochlear implant (CI) listeners differ from younger CI listeners on measures of speech understanding, music perception, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). In the study, the authors hypothesized that speech recognition would be more difficult for older adults, especially in noisy conditions. Performance on music perception was expected to be lower for older implanted listeners. No differences between age groups were expected on HRQoL. Method: Twenty older (>60 years) and 20 younger (<60 years) implanted adults participated. Speech understanding was assessed using words and sentences presented in quiet, and sentences presented at +15, +10, and +5 dB signal-to-noise ratio conditions. Music perception was tested using the University of Washington Clinical Assessment of Music, and HRQoL was measured using the Njimegen CI survey. Results: Speech understanding was significantly lower for the older compared with the younger group in all conditions. Older implanted adults showed lower performance on music perception compared with younger implanted adults on 1 of 3 subtests. Older adults reported lower HRQoL benefit than younger adults on 3 of 6 subdomains. Conclusion: Data indicate that older CI listeners performed more poorly than younger CI listeners, although group differences appear to be task specific.Communication Sciences and Disorder